Hi everyone

we recently picked up an old project my dad started and need some help and advice please.

We currently have a Fully built frame (Ron champion book one edition)
We have the engine from a ford p100 pick-up truck , 2L pinto engine
We have running gear from a Ford Cortina

Now I am trying to find the best way forward to complete this, and would like help with the following please

Do I / is it possible to switch from the Ron champion book one edition design to a Haynes build your own sports car design?

Or would I be best to switch from the First to second edition Ron Champion design?

I understand there are errors in the first book?

I hope this makes sense,

Thanks for any help

Danny

[Edited on 10/4/12 by nyawton]

There are a number of errors in the book but if you look on the haynes roadster forum you will find corrections for 99% of them and a wealth of knowledge and help.

as for altering the chassis to a roadster its better to start again as the roadster is very diffrent in size and rear end design,
it all depends how easy you want to make the build and how much fabrication you want to do, for the cost of it i personally would buy a Handy Andy (see haynes forum) pre cut chassis kit.

If I was building again and knew what I know now I would alter a few things, all but one of those below I have had to do over time to improve the car.

In no particular order.

Raise the top chassis rails to give better under bonnet clearance (the only mod I haven't done)

Ignore Rons steering rack mounts/ position and mount such that it eliminates bump steer.

Move the upper front wishbone mounts rewards to give some self centering.

Beef up the rear chassis in the area the trailing arms mount, you will ripp a bracket off in time if you don't.

The Cortina axle is a bit wide (4 inches more than escort?) for the 'book' chassis so you would need wider rear arches. The errors in the book are inconsequential except for the ones mentioned by Jon - you must move the rack to fix bumpsteer and you must fix the top wishbones or move the mounts to get enough castor to pass IVA and make it road driveable - loads of info on here on how to do this.
As I see it you've got 3 options
put it all together as is
cut and shut the existing chassis to take advantage of the wider axle (makes finding seats easier).
scrap the chassis and start again (why would you bother?)

Gavin converted a Ron chassis to Sierra DeDion to good effect
Just welded the parrallel trailing link mounts to the DeDion.
You need wide wings to cover the greater width.

quote:

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Originally posted by carlknight1982
There are a number of errors in the book but if you look on the haynes roadster forum you will find corrections for 99% of them and a wealth of knowledge and help.

as for altering the chassis to a roadster its better to start again as the roadster is very diffrent in size and rear end design,
it all depends how easy you want to make the build and how much fabrication you want to do, for the cost of it i personally would buy a Handy Andy (see haynes forum) pre cut chassis kit.

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hi, i have a feeling the p100 pinto is the same as the transit one so would be a low compression engine might be worth checking out before you get to involved with it
if you want to use the chassis you have then youd probably be better off using an escort axle if you can find one as the wider rear axle from the cortina will affect the handling and that is the main reason for building the car.
ray

Hi everyone

Thanks for all the replies, much appreciated. Looks like we have a lot to think through before getting stuck back into it. Going to spend the next few days re-measuring and checking dimensions to make sure its all been done right so far.

Didn't Flakmonkey have all the corrections on his site, or has he now taken them off? Cheers Ray